Carlos Slim Case Study Essay Sample

9 September 2017

Carlos Slim Helu was born on January 28. 1940. He is a Mexicanbusiness baron and altruist who is presently ranked as therichest individual in the worldin 2012. Slim has beenranked the richest individual in the universe since 2010. His extended retentions in a considerablenumber of Mexican companies through hisconglomerate. Grupo Carso. SA de CV. haveamassed involvements in the Fieldss of communications. engineering. retailing. and finance. Presentlyhe is the president and main executive of telecommunications companiesTelmexandAmericaMovil. Carlos Slim was born inMexico City. Mexico in 1940 toMaroniteChristian parents Julian SlimHaddad and Linda Helu . both of Lebanesedescent. His male parent. born as Khalil Slim Haddad. immigrated to Mexico at the age of 14 in 1902 and changed his first name to Julian. As it wasnot uncommon for Lebanese kids to be sent abroad before they reached the age of 15 toavoid being conscripted into theOttomanarmy. four of Haddad’s older brothers were alreadyliving in Mexico at the clip of his reaching. Carlos Slim’s female parent. Linda Helu . was born in Parral. Chihuahua. of Lebanese parents who hadimmigrated to Mexico in the late nineteenth century. Her parents upon immigrating to Mexico hadfounded one of the first Arabic linguistic communication magazines for theLebanese-Mexicancommunity. usinga publishing imperativeness they had brought with them.

In 1911. Julian established adry goodsstore. La Estrella del Oriente ( The Star of the Orient ) . By1921. he had purchased existent estate in the booming commercial territory of Mexico City. Theseenterprises became the beginning of considerable wealth. In August 1926. Julian Slim and LindaHelu married. They had six kids: Nour. Alma. Julian. Jose . Carlos and Linda. Julian senior. who had been influential in the Lebanese-Mexican concern community. died in 1953. In 1982. as Mexico lurched towards a fiscal crisis so barbarous it triggered the Latin Americandebt crisis. Mexican and international investors urgently wanted to go out from Mexico. exceptfor one: Carlos Slim. That was the twelvemonth Mr Slim. now the richest adult male in the universe but so the little-known 42-year-old boy of Lebanese immigrants. set out on a shopping fling to purchase Mexican companies at fire-sale monetary values across industries every bit diverse as aluminium. baccy. insurance and gum elastic. This hebdomad he was at it once more. merely this clip his sphere was debt-plagued Europe traveling throughEuro crises. Mr Slim’s America Movil. the largest telecoms operator in Latin America announced that it intended to knock up its 4. 8 per cent interest in KPN. the ailing Dutch telecoms outfit. to every bit much as 28 per cent in a ˆ3. 2bn trade. Eduardo Garcia. laminitis of the concern websiteSentido Comun. says that purchasing fighting companies in difficult times defines Mr Slim’s concern manner. “Nobody is wagering on Europe but Slim positions things in a different mode

” he says. “He can frequently see what the hereafter holds. ”Hegets in when every organic structure is running.Ignacio Cobo. a concern spouse and Mr Slim’s closestfriend. told the Financial Times this hebdomad: “Carlos sees three dimensions when everyone else merely sees two.

”It is non clear whether Mr Slim’s foremost important investing outside the Americas will pay off. The 72-year-old has tried to interrupt into Europe before. in peculiar in2007 when an onslaught onTelecom Italia was beaten off. But his value-investing attack has to day of the month earned him a $ 69bnfortune. harmonizing to Forbes. That attack drew him into the now-booming Brazilian telecoms market in 2002. when frights of a socialist authorities under so freshly elected Luiz Inacio Lula district attorney Silva were oppressing pricesin Brazil. No investor wanted to come in Brazil because of Lula strong positions against USA. It alsoled him into Argentina when it was still in confusion after fiscal prostration in 2001. Now asimilarly distressed state of affairs has led him to the eurozone: portions in KPN. which has operations inGermany. Belgium and Spain. had fallen 30 per cent this twelvemonth before Mr Slim made his move. Mr Slim is punctilious in seeking out the deals he loves.

Trained as a civil applied scientist. andhaving taught algebra and additive scheduling while analyzing. he can read a balance sheet likemost people read the athleticss pages. Every twenty-four hours. he receives one piece of paper packed in miniaturefont with the latest figures of the 200-odd companies that comprise his concern imperium. “He would ever state to me that Numberss speak to him. ” says Mr Cobo. That likely explainsMr Slim’s love of baseball though he seldom watches a game. preferring to maintain up by readingfinancial figures in majority. For all his wealth. MrSlim cultivates an image of demilitarizing understatement. At a 2007 statedinner with George W. Bush. one invitee was startled to see him sitting on the seedy place of a coach hired for the event. “He could hold arrived with great ostentation. ” recalls the invitee. “But there he was. merely waiting patiently and non a escort in sight. ”

Miguel Aleman Velasco. a friend of Mr Slim for the past 40 old ages. recalls beging thebillionaire in the early 1990s to upgrade to a bullet-proofed Mercedes- Benz. “Mexico was acquiring more unsafe but Carlos merely didn’t see the demand. ” he recalls. “He was happy with hisChevy. ” While his life manner is simple and is clearly convenient in a society with yawning inequalities. friends insist it is non merely a show. “He merely likes simple things. ” says an familiarity. Before he had open-heart surgery in 1997. he would frequently steal away from formal dinners for a hot Canis familiaris froma street seller. Today. when at place. he takes off his places and socks and walks around thehouse barefoot.

A widower since Soumaya. his married woman. died in 1999. he surrounds himself with his six kids. The household meets twice a hebdomad to eat. His grandchildren frequently bead by after school. He has kept his parents’ place as it was when they were alive and has a 1941 bottle -green Cadillac like the one his male parent owned. “I ne’er drive it. ” he told the F inancial Times. “But I frequently open the door. acquire behind the wheel and sit at that place believing about life. and about my male parent. ” Introduced to entrepreneurship by his male parent. who founded The Orient Star general shop. he showed immediateflair: harmonizing to dealingss. he used get-togethers to sell Sweets and coffin nails. He went from strength to strength. But what catapulted him into the mega-rich conference was the1982 purchase of Cigatam. a baccy company that generated a immense free hard currency flow. Thatenabled him to fund future acquisitions and. in 1991. to purchase Telefonos de Mexico. the province telecoms monopoly.

Critics say he has used Telmex’s dominant place to maintain pricesartificially high and to smother competition. charges he denies. They besides point out that Mr Slimbuilt his luck in a state where about half the population lives below the poorness line. Thecompetition governments late fined him about $ 1bn for the alleged monopolistic patterns of America Movil. The bosom of the difference was the interconnectedness charge it imposed on otheroperators. But last hebdomad. in return for grants. theregulator dropped the all right. There is no uncertainty the hard currency Telmex generated at place gave markets assurance to fund hisexpansion abroad. including a 16 per cent interest in Saks. the section shop. and a 7. 3 per centstake in theNew York Times. Today his telecoms imperium has 246m Mobile endorsers acrossthe Americas. It is possible that Mr Slim sees Europe and his KPN trade. in extra to itsfinancial virtues. as a manner to larn how best to work Latin America’s dining telecoms markets as they mature. Asked in the 2007 interview about his accretion of colossal wealth. Mr Slim insisted he remained down to Earth. “Regardless of whether I am foremost or one thousandth [ ric hest in the universe ] . I am non traveling to take anything with me to the grave. ”